Intro 
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Hello fellow Kobo fanatics, I've joined the club with a Kobo Glo HD. I've had my eye on this particular device for a while because I believe it's the ideal long term reader in regards to specs and maintainability (at least for the time being). The interior layout is excellent in regards to future maintenance due to inevitable failures of the two critical components: the battery and internal storage. As you may have deduced I have a preference for selecting devices based on long term maintainability, I have a "buy it for life" philosophy where applicable.
eReader backstory: I previously used a Kindle Keyboard that I've owned with the official lighted cover since release year. It's a tank of a device in addition to having an easy to replace battery (pop cover, two screws) but the rest of the device leaves a bit to be desired in regards to modern amenities (storage, size, backlight, ppi) hence the upgrade.
I'll be keeping a running album of full resolution images here, images used in this post will be resized as per forum guidelines.
Maintainability & Disassembly Review
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Stock internals, not for long though!
Access to the internals is very easy, just pry from the seam on any of the edges on around the rubberized back panel. I prefer to start at the top center then popping both sides. After that you should be able to slowing pull the panel away at an slight angle to release the rest of the clips.
The battery is a simple two wire setup with a tiny board connector. Replacements are still readily available at the time of writing, check the battery section below for specifics including the model. I emphasize the two wire setup because in the future there's a good chance batteries of the same size and connector will be difficult or impossible to find when the current replacements are out of production. When this happens you can just find a similar size and voltage hobby battery and splice the old connector onto it. Traditional power and ground (red and black) wiring is preferred versus contact based pin connectors for this very reason.
Obviously the microSD slot is as friendly as it gets, just a standard non-spring loaded slot mounted internally. I will be updating this post with clear images of the internals and consolidating information/files required for both battery and SD card replacement here.
The motherboard comes out easily by removing the washer-head screws at each corner in addition to the display/touch connectors at the bottom. As an added bonus if your sleep button ever has issues check the solder joints that hold it to the board, mine came hanging off and when I pulled the board up one of the joints was broken! This is a simple fix, just throw some flux on the joint and add a small amount of solder to reconnect and reinforce the button for the future.
The display is a multiple component package that is held around the border of the plastic bezel with a fairly strong adhesive. My method to pull it apart was to press two thumbs into the display while gripping the bezel around the edges until I had enough leverage to peel apart safely. The plastic backplate seems to be held with a strong enough adhesive that I couldn't pry it apart safely.
Now may be thinking:
It's not even waterproof! This is true although I rank this low on the list of disasters likely to befall my device considering the sheltered life it will live. I do, however, intend to take a preventive measure for this while inside. I have applied conformal coating to all surface mounted components on the board to stop/slow any possible splash damage or corrosion it could possibly incur. It's very simple to apply with a brush usually integrated into the container, just give it a bit to dry and do it in a well ventilated area or outside. This excludes contact pins i.e. battery connector, SD card slot, display and touch panel connectors, micro usb slot. The conformal coating I use adds a light blue hue to the board in addition to a glossy finish similar to clear coating but removable with alcohol if necessary.
Where I'll be starting:
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- Preowned Glo HD 4GB
- New Official Sleep Cover
- Cameron Sino 1500mAh / 5.55Wh - Model: PR-285083
- Samsung EVO 128GB UHS-1 microSD Card
This is a budget friendly project so I set out to find a well cared for Glo HD for around $50 USD. After confirming that purchase I placed orders for the other items after a bit of research. Official sleep covers are still plentiful and can be found for $15 at the time of posting. The only replacement battery that seems to be readily available is made by Cameron Sino which is a brand that I trust from previous experience. The 128GB SD card was something I already had from a previous project, I was initially going to use a 32GB card but swapped it out as it's more likely to be used in the eReader than the Raspberry Pi it was in.
Note that the battery is apparently also compatible with a Nook Glowlight Plus (2015) which may help those searching in the future. I recommend searching by the model number for this reason as the seller I purchased from ($15 at time of purchase) only had it listed under the Nook.
Upgrading the SD Card
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For all methods I recommend keeping the back cover off until you verify everything is working.
Windows Method
After some research I've found that
Toony's method is still the simplest way for most Windows users, I'll reiterate his instructions here with some clarifications made:
Downloads:
Steps:
- Insert the original SD card into your desktop
- Open USB Image Tool and press the "Backup" button in the bottom right corner
- You will be prompted for a file name and location - I recommend naming it KoboGloHD and putting it on the desktop
- Eject the original SD card and insert the new card
- Press the "Restore" button in the bottom left corner of USB Image Tool and select the KoboGloHD.img file
- At this point the SD card is restored to the same state as the original card including partition size, we'll need to resize it to take advantage of the larger card.
- Open MiniTool Partition Wizard
- Right click the FAT32 KOBOEReader Partition on the SD card and select "Extend"
- Drag the slider of the right most box all the way to the right
- Press OK and then click Apply in the top left
- Once the process completes you're ready to eject the SD card
- Insert the SD card into your Kobo and hold the power button until it boots
Linux Method
Brief Instructions by Taos
WIP - Testing different methods
A piece of Kapton tape over the SD card will ensure it stays in the slot indefinitely.
General Troubleshooting
If your Kobo isn't booting you most likely have either a bad backup or a bad write. Consider going through the steps again, and if that doesn't work consider trying a different SD reader. I can't imagine any SD card being incompatible considering I'm using a modern 128GB UHS-1 card without issues but if all else fails try another card.
Battery Replacement & Upgrades
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Haven't found a suitable upgrade, the space constraints really limit the maximum size to the stock battery which makes sense considering they made a cut out in the board for it. You could potentially dremel out some of the plastic backplate for slightly more height but finding a battery that will take advantage of the full battery compartment is going to be difficult. I'm going to deem a battery upgrade not worth it.
Replacement is as simple as slowly prying with a card until the adhesive releases. I recommend taking the motherboard out to get a good angle. Do
not bend the battery too far unless you like fires.
Search for the part number instead of searching for a Kobo Glo HD battery specifically and you'll generally find more results as the battery model is the same as the Nook Glowlight Plus.
Stock Battery Information:- Part Number: PR-285083
- Capacity: 1500 mAh
- Voltage: 3.7V
- Dimensions: 84.15 x 49.50 x 2.70 mm
To Be Continued
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I'd say as far as hardware modifications and maintenance that all reasonable paths have been explored. It's possible myself or others will come up with something to add in the future and I'll come back to update the thread.